It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the lovely Sandy's turn to host our challenge this week and she has a great clean and simple challenge for you to play along with:

I was a little pressed for time this week in getting ready for Stampin' Up! Onstage at Telford (also the reason for a lack of blog posts over the last two days) so a clean and simple challenge couldn't have come as a better time! I used this week's sketch over at Mojo Monday for my layout and decided to go with punched rather than stamped butterflies for both impact and speed:

As you can see, today's card really is clean and simple. Here's the low down:

Pretty Petals - I reached for this paper pack to use as the starting point for my card and settled on this rather bold pattern, as I knew I needed only a small amount so wanted it to be impactful. My Pretty Petals paper set the colour combination for my card and provided the perfect backdrop to my sentiment from 'Tin of Cards'.

Can You Keep A Secret? - The DSP has a small amount of Calypso Coral around the flower heads, which I substituted with Watermelon Wonder as I wanted to use the wide satin ribbon in this colour for my banner. Sssh, don't tell - although honestly I think it's impossible to see the difference even up close. Here is the colour palette I used on my card:

A Trio of Punched Butterflies - I used a trio of solid colour butterflies to complete my card, punched using the Bitty Butterfly and Elegant Butterfly punches. I layered one of them and finished them all with pearls as a simple embellishment.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

So as you can see, a clean and simple card for this week's butterfly challenge. I'm also linking up with the lovely team over at the Global Design Project where their theme this week is 'nature' and a butterfly definitely qualifies for that!

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing your clean and simple cards this week. We are off to basketball today and back to hockey today ...

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Pretty Petals Designer Series Paper Stack	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Bitty Butterfly Punch	Elegant Butterfly Punch	Pearl Basic Jewels	Punch Corner Project Life
Watermelon Wonder 1" Stitched Satin Ribbon

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host our challenge this week and I have an interesting colour combination for you to play along with:

I knew when I chose my colour palette some months ago that I would do something with flowers; for my card this week I was inspired to use the Botanical Builder Framelits Dies - I just love those flowers and I knew they would be great to create the tropical flowers I had in mind with my colour scheme. I also used this week's sketch over at Mojo Monday for the layout for my card:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Lots of Layers - I love layers and this card has lots of them! I kept them either plain or with a unified pattern of polka dots so that they wouldn't overwhelm the sentiment and flowers that are the focal point of my card.

Subtles versus Brights - Balancing my colour choices today may be considered a challenge in itself. I used my Brights largely as accent colours, although the one thing I did differently on my card was stamp my sentiment if Soft Sky, the lightest colour. This is a real departure for me as normally I would stamp it in the strongest darkest colour for impact, yet sometimes it pays to take a more subtle approach - I hope you agree :-)

The Perfect Accent - Yes I used those White Perfect Accents for my flowers again - I love them, whether left 'naked' as here today or coloured up using my Sharpies. They make such a great flower centre.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's colours. We are off to basketball today but no hockey - one more week off for Easter until we are back on the pitch! This means cycling if the sun is shining or board games if it rains - let's see where we end up!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Botanical Builder Framelits Dies	Tin Of Cards Photopolymer Stamp Set	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad
Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock	Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock	Brights Designer Series Paper Stack	Subtles Designer Series Paper Stack	Soft Sky A4 Cardstock
Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Big Shot	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	White Perfect Accents
Melon Mambo 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the talented LeAnne to host our challenge this week and she has my favourite type of challenge, a sketch, for you to play along with:

As it's Easter Sunday today, for my card this week I decided to make one last Easter card to share with you, using this week's colours over at Pals Paper Arts. I'm also linking up with the Friday Mashup again as I've used the theme part of their challenge (Easter and chicks or bunnies - read on and all will become clear!) Here is the front of my card:

Simple enough: some polka dot panels, alongside an oversize flower made with 1 1/2 and 1 3/4 circle punches and the Flower Fair Framelits as a backdrop to my pair of Easter eggs. The eggs themselves are using a tip picked up from Cindy Schuster on the Stampin' Up! corporate blog (you can see her card here) where she used the balloon punch to create Easter Eggs (I stamped mine first using the outline in the 'Balloon Celebration' set and used the grunge stamp in 'Awesomely Artistic' for my mottled effect).

The best bit for me about today's card is the inside, take a look:

Having wrestled with myself every time I went to stick one of the Honeycomb embellishments to the front of my card, knowing that it would mean either a box needed to send it or risk the embellishment being crushed (I'm still suffering post-traumatic stress from having watched Shannon West uncerimoniously squash one on the front of a card whilst on stage at Onstage Live in Brussels last November!!) , I decided that there was a perfect way around it - use it on the inside! I stamped my chick from the 'Honeycomb Happiness' Sale-A-Bration stamp set on the inside of my card along the central score line, paper-pieced him with another stamped on So Saffron card, then added my honeycomb embellishment (I spritzed one of the white ones in So Saffron). I also stamped my Easter greeting from the 'Suite Sayings' stamp set on the inside of my card on the left-hand panel:

Isn't that just the cutest?! I am so happy with how this turned out! I can now use my Honeycomb Embellishments with a clear conscience!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any.  

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's sketch. We have a rare sport-free day today. We are looking forward to our Easter egg hunt (likely to be indoors if the weather forecast is correct!), a leisurely lunch and an afternoon eating too many chocolate eggs whilst watching a good movie!

Back tomorrow with another project (or two!); until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Honeycomb Happiness Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Flower Fair Framelits Dies	Honeycomb Embellishments	Birthday Blooms Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Suite Sayings Clear-Mount Stamp Set
Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad	Blushing Bride A4 Cardstock	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad
So Saffron A4 Cardstock	Balloon Celebration Photopolymer Stamp Set	Balloon Bouquet Punch	Subtles Designer Series Paper Stack	Whisper White A4 Cardstock

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of our very own Birthday Girl, the lovely Jaydee, to host our challenge this week and she has a fun clean and simple theme for you to play along with:

So along with Jaydee's birthday - happy birthday wishes to you Jaydee! - we are also celebrating the arrival of Spring! For my card this week I was inspired to use the cute little chick from the Sale-A-Bration Honeycomb Happiness stamp set, this time in conjunction with the floral spray in the 'Number of Years' stamp set. I used this week's layout over at Freshly Made Sketches for my card - take a look:

Key points to note about today's card:

More than a number - The 'Number of Years' stamp set is big on numbers, but it also has this lovely floral spray which can be used in conjunction with the other stamps in the set or for something totally different, as I've done here. The watercolour-effect stamp was the perfect pairing for my no-line watercoloured chick today. I stamped it twice, masking my chick once so that some of the stems appeared behind for depth of field, then went over the top with my aquapainter to further enhance to watercoloured effect. 

No-line watercolouring - I've used this technique with this same little chick previously (you can see that card here). Today I wanted to use soft pastels and delicate colouring to have him peeking out of the spring flowers, so no-line watercolouring was the perfect solution. I stamped him in Sahara Sand and coloured him in So Saffron and Daffodil Delight with my aquapainter to give him a realistic finish.

Sketches are open to interpretation - Kim's sketch is great but I needed my chick to be grounded and not floating in mid-air, so I rotated the sketch through 180 degrees (this is allowed!) I used the floral spray to give the circular shape within the sketch without adding another layer to my card and keep it looking 'clean and simple'.

A bold Hello - With such delicate watercoloured pastels, I decided to stamp my sentiment in Versamark on Basic Black and heat emboss in white to give my sentiment some prominence. I then punched this out with my Word Window Punch. A nice contrast I think to the softness of the rest of my card.

I'm also linking up my card today with the challenge over at Addicted to CAS, where the current theme is 'delicate' and SUO Challenges where the theme is 'welcome Spring'.

Here's today's visual summary of the key products used on today's card for easy reference:

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's clean and simple theme. We have a jam-packed day of sport today: hockey and basketball training, followed by a hockey tournament, lunch and then both James Juniors are playing in a basketball match. I'm thinking we need to start the day with at least two Weetabix each to get us through to dinner!!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Number Of Years Photopolymer Stamp Set	Honeycomb Happiness Wood-Mount Stamp Set	Aqua Painters	Watercolor Paper	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad
So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	Wisteria Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad	Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad	Pink Pirouette Classic Stampin' Pad
Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker	Basic Black A4 Cardstock	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad
White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool (Uk)	Word Window Punch	Wisteria Wonder A4 Cardstock

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of our esteemed leader the amazing Nance to host our challenge this week and she has a fun colour scheme for you to play along with:

For my card this week I was inspired to use my Picture perfect stamp set for the first time; I've seen so many brightly coloured hummingbirds with this set, I thought these colours would be perfect to create one of my very own. Take a look:

Here are the key features of today's card:

Picture Perfect Hummingbird - 'Picture Perfect' is a multi-step image stamp set, with each of the stamps having two, three or four layers. The hummingbird comes in four pieces, so in order to get four layers with only three colours, I stamped my first and third layers in Bermuda Bay, having stamped off the first one so that it was lighter in colour. I stamped the second stamp in Calypso Coral and the fourth and final one in Memento Black. Whilst it sounds complicated, this set is made from photopolymer which makes lining up the images really straightforward. 

Partial Die Cutting using Circle Framelits - I decided upon a rather unusual layout for my card today, using a base of Calypso Coral with the top part of the front cut away on the diagonal. I stamped my bird onto a piece of Whisper White and having fussy cut his wing tip by hand, I then cut a partial circle up to the diagonal before adhering behind so that it aligned with my cut away circle on my card base. Circle Framelits are invaluable for this kind of partial diecutting, as you simply roll through the Bid Shot to the desired point without cutting the whole way through.

Color Me Irresistible Specialty Designer Series Paper - I used this black pre-embossed paper last week on this card and decided it was just the thing to add a block of colour to the background of my card today too. The subtle stripes align perfectly to the diagonal line of my card and add interest without detracting from the bird.

Lastly, I stamped my sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed it in black and added a trio of White Perfect Accents, coloured black using a Sharpie, for a little extra shine. I spent ages trying to work out what to do with these colours, but once I'd decided on using this stamp set, it all came together seamlessly. Love it when that happens!

Here's today's visual summary of the key things needed to make today's card for easy reference:

Remember you can also find all of my 'Tip and Techniques' summaries on my Pinterest page here.

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with our colour palette this week. We are off to basketball today and hockey today, Rebecca has a birthday party to attend to and I have lots of preparation for this week's classes to be getting on with, so it's going to be a busy one!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Picture Perfect Photopolymer Stamp Set	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot	Color Me Irresistible Specialty Designer Series Paper	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad
Calypso Coral A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Embossing Buddy
Versamark Pad	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder	White Perfect Accents	Punch Corner Project Life

Firstly, happy Mothering Sunday to all UK mothers reading this - today is most certainly our day! It's also Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of the talented Sandy to host our challenge this week and she has a great theme for you to play along with:

I was all set to make a rainy day card for today's challenge but I couldn't get the idea in my head to work on paper - so some other time for that card! Instead I decided to use my Sunburst Thinlits and create a bright sunshine card which came together much more like my vision:

I used this week's sketch over at Pals Paper Arts for my layout and created a fun fold card, where the second part of my sentiment acted as a clasp to hold the left-hand panel closed. I used a panel of Daffodil Delight spotted Schoolhouse Designer Series Paper on the right-hand panel and on the left I stamped some sunshines in Versamark and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder. This sunshine is from one of the early limited edition Sale-A-Bration sets, 'Hello' and the good news is that availability of this stamp set has been extended while stocks last. You've still time to snap it up, but you'd better be quick!

For my main square, I used a background of Tempting Turquoise to which I added a Daffodil Delight sunburst, edged with Tangelo Twist. For my sunshine centre, I stamped 'Shine' from the 'Sunburst Sayings' stamp set onto some Daffodil Delight cardstock and fussy cut the outer elements of the sentiment before cutting the remainder with a circle framelit, which allowed my sentiment to overhang. I backed this circle with a mat cut from a 1 3/4" scalloped circle punch, that I punched once then rotated and punched again to create the starburst effect - this is a neat little trick and perfect for this kind of design. It's also a great way to get a second shape from one punch. I then framed the whole square with a Tangelo Twist frame cut using my square framelits. The second part of my sentiment was cut with the washi tape thinlit from the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits set and I adhered this with a dimensional to the right so that it could serve to hold the fold shut. I just love the bright sunshine colours of today's card and the layering of all the elements within the focal square - this will certainly brighten someone's day. The 'Sunburst Sayings' stamp set and Sunburst Thinlit die are another of the great 'bundle and save' offers in the current seasonal catalogue, giving you a saving of 15% when you purchase them together - bonus!

Here's today's visual summary for easy reference:

Thank you to everyone who has left me a sweet comment or feedback on these new graphics, which have been very well received; they make great Pins too!

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with our theme this week. We are off to basketball this morning with time for a special Mother's Day lunch before venturing out to a birthday party this afternoon. Not quite the restful Mother's Day I had in mind, but life goes on today as always and as my family frequently tell me "Every day is Mother's Day in the James Household!". I have been treated to cards, flowers and gifts today so I am feeling perhaps a little more loved than usual :-) 

I hope you all have an enjoyable Mothering Sunday, whether you are celebrating or are focused on other things today. Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sunburst Sayings Clear-Mount Bundle	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Squares Collection Framelits Dies	Big Shot	1-3/4" Scallop Circle Punch
Tangelo Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Tempting Turquoise A4 Cardstock	Schoolhouse Designer Series Paper
Hello Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Heat Tool (Uk)	Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's the turn of my sweet friend Claire to host our challenge this week and she has a great sketch for you to play along with:

For my card this week I was inspired to use the 'Gift From The Garden' stamp set and the colours and watering can and polka dots over at Color Throwdown provided just the additional inspiration I needed:

Claire's sketch has lots of layers so this gave plenty of opportunity to incorporate lots of elements. I used kraft cardstock for my base and stamped the flowerpot trio in Versamark all over the front to create a subtle tone on tone background design that was in keeping with the theme of my card. I then added a piece of Mint Macaron Birthday Bouquet designer series paper and strip of white seam binding ribbon and layered a piece of polka dot Pink Pirouette designer series paper from the Subtles stack before adding my stamped circles. I punched two circles of Whisper White and stamped a pair of Mint Macaron wellies on one and a Pink pirouette watering can on the other. I also stamped the watering can a second time on a piece of scrap so that I could fussy cut it out and overlap the spout when I layered the circles together. I stamped my sentiment in Soft Suede and then stamped the heart flower in a pot onto a piece of Whisper White, fussy cut it out then added a flowerpot cut from kraft coloured corrugated paper and a pink punched heart with added pearl. Lastly, I added a twine bow to my ribbon to finish my card.

I'm not sure that I would have chosen these pastel colours for a card using this set had I not seen the Color Throwdown photo, yet I think they make for a pretty card. The thing I love most about this card though is my custom patterned paper for my cardbase; it is subtle enough to not overpower and you don't even see that much of it, yet ties in so well with the theme of my card.I love the earthy tone of the kraft cardstock too - I really must use this more often I think! This card is headed to a wonderful green-fingered friend of mine; I'm not sure she owns a pink watering can or green wellies but I just know she will love this card.

Here's today's visual summary for easy reference:

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with our sketch this week. We are off to basketball today and Rebecca is playing in a hockey tournament too, so another day of sport in store.

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Gift From The Garden Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Kraft 12" X 12" Cardstock	Kraft And White Corrugated Paper	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad	Pink Pirouette Classic Stampin' Pad
Pink Pirouette A4 Cardstock	Subtles Designer Series Paper Stack	Birthday Bouquet Designer Series Paper	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
2" Circle Punch	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack	Whisper White 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon	Linen Thread	Versamark Pad

It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! It's my turn to host our challenge this week and I have a fun clean and simple challenge for you to play along with:

Up, up and away! Balloons are very on-trend currently, but you can use any airborne object on your card today - just keep it clean and simple. For my card this week I was inspired to use balloons and in contrast to yesterday's bright balloon card decided to feature a piece of the delicately patterned balloon paper from the Birthday Bouquet designer series paper set:

I used a base of Mint Macaron to which I adhered a strip of Pool Party 3/8" Glitter Ribbon before adding a piece of the balloon patterned paper. I added a simple sentiment from the 'Suite Sayings' stamp set, which I cut out with my Project Life Cards & Labels Framelits, and added a couple of balloons stamped with the 'Balloon Builders' stamp set to give the same muted effect as the paper. Finally, I created some tassels with some frayed Pool Party Glitter Ribbon and a few clear sequins to finish my card. On reflection, whilst my card has minimal layers it doesn't have much of the 'white space' that is traditionally typical of 'clean and simple' cards, but I love the soft feel if it and the glimmer from the ribbon and the balloon tassles so I had to share it with you! I'm also linking up again with the team over at The Global Design Project where their theme this week has been balloons - what can I say, we were obviously thinking along similar lines!

For those of you who like a visual summary, here's something new that I will be featuring in my blog posts - a labelled photograph of the key products required to make today's card: 

These images are perfect for pinning to give you a visual reference of the supplies needed to re-create this card which can be useful if you want to come back to it at a later date. I will be pinning these to my new 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Board on Pinterest too, which you can find here.

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week, all of whom have created some fantastic examples of clean and simple cards:

I look forward to seeing your clean and simple creations in the gallery. We are off to basketball and back to hockey today and are planning a fun afternoon of board games and maybe a walk out along the canal if the weather stays dry for long enough. 

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Balloon Builders Photopolymer Stamp Set	Balloon Bouquet Punch	Birthday Bouquet Designer Series Paper	Pool Party 3/8" (1 Cm) Glitter Ribbon	Whisper White A4 Cardstock
Suite Sayings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Project Life Cards & Labels Framelits Dies	Big Shot	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad	Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock
Metallics Sequin Assortment

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! It's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it is the turn of the queen of die-cuts, the lovely Laurie, to host and she has a colour challenge for you to play along with:

This week's colours are about as far from Valentines as you could possibly get, but this colour palette offers some great opportunities for bright cards on a cold Winter's day. For my card this week I was inspired to use my new Sunburst Thinlits to create a layered sunburst, paired with some patterned cloud paper:

To create my sunburst I cut two sunbursts, one in Daffodil Delight to fit my card panel and the other full size in Tangelo Twist. To get a perfect 'shadow' I cut the orange one into three pieces to give equal shadow lines on each ray, then trimmed the ends to fit flush with the yellow one. I mounted my sunburst onto a piece of Pool Party cloud paper, taken from the Sweet L'il Things designer series paper stack. I stamped my sentiment in Tangelo Twist onto Very Vanilla and layered the circles to create the centrepiece for my sun. Finally, I added a trio of orange Brights sequins to finish. Quite a simple card to look at, but consisting of nine layers in total, each of which adds to the finished look and feel of the card. I love the bright colours of this week's colour palette  -so cheery and sure to brighten everyone's day! 

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's colours. We have a restful day planned today, with a sport-free day as it's the start of the half-term holiday for the James Juniors. Pretty much a whole week of lie-ins - bliss!

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sunburst Sayings Clear-Mount Bundle	Sweet Li'l Things Designer Series Paper	1-1/4" Circle Punch	1-3/8" Circle Punch	1-3/4" Circle Punch
Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Tangelo Twist Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock
Brights Sequin Assortment

Did you miss me? Apologies for the lack of blog posts over the last couple of days. I've had plenty of projects, just not enough time to write up! However today it's Sunday and time for a new challenge over at The Paper Players! This week it is the turn of my talented friend LeAnne to host and she has a fun theme challenge for you to play along with:

This proved something of a tricky week for me! As someone known for not being the world's biggest pet lover, I don't have much in the way of cats or dogs in my stamp collection. I'd been thinking about what I was going to do for this challenge all week, wondering whether I should get creative with some punch art, when I had a 'light bulb' moment and thought I would use my Balloon Builders set and build a dog. When I looked at my finished attempt, I wasn't sure about it; my husband poked his head round my office door, looked at it and said "Well, maybe it could pass for Wylie Kyote ... are you SURE you don't have any cat or dog stamps??" and proceeded to go searching along my shelves! So needless to say the balloons got tossed aside in favour of this card, as my dear husband had a 'Eureka!' moment and discovered my long-unused Giggle Greetings set:

I used this week's Colour Q palette and coloured my dog with my retired Blendabilities and created some fun layers with some embossing using my large polka dots embossing folder on the top one. I framed my stamped piece using my Circle Framelits, added a few banners from some retired scraps of designer series paper and some thick Cherry Cobbler baker's twine and my card is complete.

A fun puppy dog that as it turns out was perfect for the job and since I needed a few congratulations cards too I got one of those into the bargain! That will teach me to get all creative and not check my collection thoroughly first!! (edited to add: I did decide to put the balloon animal to good use, although balloon dog might be considered a stretch! You can find him here - let me know what you think!)

Before you reach for your ink and papers, check out what our amazing team has created to inspire you this week:

I look forward to seeing what you create with this week's theme. We have a day of sport today, with basketball and hockey in store and then some time this afternoon making Tudor costumes for Ben's current school history project.

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Giggle Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Crumb Cake A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Cherry Cobbler Thick Baker’s Twine
Real Red A4 Cardstock	Pool Party A4 Cardstock	Cherry Cobbler A4 Cardstock	Polka Dot Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Big Shot
Circles Collection Framelits Dies